San Antonio – The LSU Lady Tigers kept true to their tournament script this year by allowing a team to hang around for most of the first half.
They also followed through with the second act of the script – dominating their opponent in the second half on Saturday.
    After DePaul scored the first basket of the second half, the Lady Tigers used a 26-4 run to put away the Lady Blue Demons 66-56 and advance to the Elite 8 for the fourth consecutive year.
    ”I thought the difference in today’s game was the fact that we were able to defend the basketball at the highest level I’ve seen in postseason from this particular team,” said LSU coach Pokey Chatman.
    The Lady Tigers held the 12th-ranked offense in the country to 38.2 percent shooting and just 56 points.
    Chatman, who praised DePaul’s transition offense prior to the game, said she was pleased the Lady Tigers only allowed 2 transition points.
    ”I think the overall game was decided by defensive effort, especially taking away transition baskets,” Chatman said.
    DePaul coach Doug Bruno said his team simply could not match LSU after halftime.
    ”In regard to this game, we were able to hang with LSU for a half,” Bruno said. “We got stuck on Seimone’s [Augustus] number 33 for a long time and never got off of it.”
    Augustus led LSU with 18 points but made every fan’s heart skip a beat late in the second period.
    The nation’s leading scorer drove baseline with 1:45 left to play in the game when she fell to the floor and grasped the lower part of her left leg.
    ”It wasn’t my ankle,” Augustus said. “It was a cramp. I’m OK.”
    The Lady Tigers began the second half on a 13-2 run capped by two free throws by senior guard Scholanda Hoston with 14:06 left to play in the game.
    LSU expanded its lead to 20 points during the next five minutes.
    The Lady Blue Demons went through scoring droughts of 4:47 and 5:48 in the second half to help LSU build its lead.
    ”We just needed to run our offense more effectively and efficiently,” DePaul forward Khara Smith said. “We were running around quick, and they picked up the defensive intensity.”
    DePaul added offensive insult to injury by attempting just two free throws in the game, becoming the 10th team in NCAA women’s basketball postseason history to take fewer than three free-throw attempts.
    The Lady Tigers committed only eight personal fouls the entire game, which is an LSU record and tied the NCAA record for fifth-fewest fouls committed in a game.
    Guard Jenna Rubino led DePaul with 15 points all on 3-point shots.
    Rubino’s sharp 3-point shooting helped the Lady Blue Demons go step-for-step with LSU in the first half.
    LSU sophomore center Sylvia Fowles earned her 34th career double-double by halftime, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. She finished with 13 points and 19 rebounds.
    Trailing by 1 point with 15 minutes left to play in the first half, LSU went on a 13-5 run to take a 7-point lead and prompted a DePaul timeout with 10:22 remaining in the half.
    But the Lady Blue Demons responded immediately and answered with a 13-4 in the next seven minutes to take a 2-point lead with 2:46 left in the half.
 
Contact Kyle Whitfield at [email protected]